Selling Your Home? The BEST Ways to Create a Good First Impression

Selling your home is the most stressful life event you can go through, according to a survey by Vivo, but there are several ways you can make the journey easier on yourself. Creating a good first impression can boost the number of viewings you get, increase potential offers, and even help you achieve a higher selling price.

How to Impress home buyers

Anyone can ensure their house makes a good impression on potential home buyers; all it takes is an understanding of where to spend your time and which areas to focus on.

Prioritise Kerb Appeal

The value of kerb appeal should not be underestimated. You might expect that potential buyers are more interested in the interior of a home than the exterior, but if you don’t create kerb appeal then you won’t even get people through the door. This is especially important in the age of technology, where most people look for homes online, and will instantly discount properties that don’t appeal just from a photo of the outside. Improve your home’s kerb appeal by cleaning the windows and doors, mowing the front lawn, sweeping up loose leaves or debris, and trimming stray shrubs or trees. Go the extra mile to attract buyers by planting flowers, positioning plant pots at either side of the front door, fixing hanging baskets on the walls, and using stylish door furniture.

Highlight the Best Features 

Using stylish accessories to stage a home can help create a good first impression to potential buyers by impressing and distracting. When a buyer’s eye is drawn to a stunning light fitting or a plush modern sofa, they become absorbed in the overall style of the home and will be much less likely to notice a scuff on the wooden flooring or a chip on the glass hob.

You can highlight the best features of your home by quite literally shining a light on them. If you have a regency house that dates back to the 19th century, showcase, and highlight their stunning features. Turn on lamps and direct them towards favourite furnishings and accentuate attractive accessories by draping them in fairy lights.  Most of these old regency houses are located in Spa towns across the UK such as Cheltenham, and highlighting their historic features could be something to consider if you ever sell a property there.
Declutter and Display Your Lifestyle

If you have children’s toys stacked in a corner, or paperwork piled on the kitchen worktop, it’s time to declutter and store everything where it won’t be seen. A room that is free from clutter will feel more open, airy and create the illusion of a bigger space. While decluttering, don’t be tempted to remove all evidence of your family’s lives, because displaying your lifestyle can help sell a home. Property selling experts at The Property Centre state when selling a home “you want it to look tidy, whilst also looking lived in by happy people”. Keep it looking realistic and remember you are not just selling bricks and mortar; you are selling a lifestyle!

So Fresh and So Clean

One of the biggest turn-offs for homebuyers is bad smells. Give your home a thorough clean to eliminate any lingering odours, and introduce some pleasant aromas with candles, diffusers, room sprays, and fresh flowers. You could also build on the lifestyle pitch while simultaneously creating pleasant smells, by bringing a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven just before a house viewing or having a fresh brewed pot of coffee in the kitchen. This constructs a vision to potential buyers of how idyllic their lives could be if they lived in your property.

Restore Decor

If your walls haven’t seen a new coat of paint in a few years, then it’s time to get reacquainted with your paint brushes. A fresh lick of paint can transform a room from feeling dank and gloomy to bright and attractive. Neutral colours work well if you want to appeal to the masses, but don’t be scared to choose a more interesting shade if you are targeting a specific audience, for example a trendy emerald green for young professionals, or a relaxing duck egg blue for a traditional coastal home.

Why First Impressions Count

Research conducted by Harron Homes found that almost half of all homebuyers will decide whether they are going to make an offer on a property within the first five minutes of seeing it. This demonstrates how hooking a buyer in with a good first impression could be the difference between a sale and a fruitless viewing, so it really pays to make your house as instantly appealing as possible.